The rapid, scary onset of COVID-19 made 2020 a very difficult year for H-E-B shoppers. Despite all signs pointing toward the pandemic impacting the holidays- forcing people to cancel or change their favorite traditions- many shoppers remained optimistic that this holiday season would be as magical as ever. In fact, ¾ of U.S. households were still really looking forward to making plans & celebrating the holidays (Meredith Media 2020). 91% of shoppers were really missing in-store shopping (Incisiv 2020), looking forward to what was usually the most festive, shoppable season of all.
Texans were heading straight for disappointment, which was the last thing anyone needed after suffering through a pandemic.
H-E-B saw the need to create some Texas-sized holiday magic to make it easy for shoppers to find the joy they so desperately needed during this holiday, in the aisles and at home.
Despite the holidays shaping up to be even more competitive in the Supers/Grocery retail industry, with competitors focusing their efforts on offering longer and more promotions, H-E-B took a gamble on innovation as a way to connect shoppers and bring them joy.
Together with partners Facebook and Groove Jones, H-E-B tapped into the magic of AR to make this holiday season exceed shoppers’ expectations for a fun and festive season. They ended up creating not one, but three forward & selfie facing camera holiday-themed AR experiences, designed to make Texans smile no matter where they were, or who they were celebrating with. Including,
- A Visit with Santa: H-E-B reimagined the in-store tradition of the celebrated Santaland photo-opp for a digital world with an inclusive Santa AR filter that allowed shoppers to choose a Santa that looked like them.
- Southern Snow Globe: H-E-B added a Texas spin to the traditional Winter Wonderland, complete with Texas-themed winter critters like a Gingerbread Sheriff, a snowy cayote and the Gingerbread Alamo.
- Unwrapping Presents: Then, H-E-B made it easy for families to film and share in the holiday tradition of unwrapping gifts with friends and family members who couldn’t be there in person.
To engage shoppers when they were most interested, H-E-B developed an assortment of entry points for these AR effects ranging from home to the store.
- At Home: Knowing our shoppers tend to be in a more traditional (less digital) mindset when it comes to shopping our stores, we developed a Facebook and Instagram video ad campaign that showed people how easy it is to use our filters & how much joy the digital world (AR) could bring the physical world (homes across Texas). These ads were accompanied by an influencer campaign featuring James Van Der Beek and his family as they discovered and delighted in the AR filters across their H-E-B store.
- In-Store: Throughout our H-E-B network, QR codes that let shoppers enter the AR effect were sprinkled throughout the store (from freezer clings to Christmas trees!) for easy, contactless engagement. Then, in key locations, parking lot pop ups surprised, delighted & enhanced the engagement experience.
In just over three weeks in-market, our AR effects exceeded shoppers’ expectations- successfully bringing holiday joy to their homes (engagement) and exciting shoppers about shopping at H-E-B for their holiday needs (affinity and purchase intent).
This effort showed how well AR initiatives can build brand affinity and drive record-breaking Purchase Intent (even over a promotional campaign!). And counter to conventional belief, we saw that Boomer shoppers are ready for platform-led AR experiences!
- Engagement rate of the Lens units was nearly 50%, significantly higher than H-E-B's (already high) average Facebook engagement rate of 5%
- Drove H-E-B purchase intent by +3.1 Pts. (which is 3x Vertical Norms) (Facebook Reporting)
- This purchase intent was over 3x the intent driven by the holiday promotional ads run during the same period (Facebook Reporting)
- This purchase intent also surpassed 6 out of 7 of H-E-B's previous product-oriented Holiday campaigns from years before (Facebook Reporting)
- Shifted Ad Recall by +6 Pts. over the Control Group, particularly with the 45-54 year-old cohort @ +9.6 Pts. (9x the holiday promotional ads during this period) (Facebook Reporting)
- AR campaign also drove a 60% decrease in cost per incremental ad recall compared to Holiday 2019 (Facebook Reporting)
- Boomers (45-64 y.o.) exposed to the AR campaign were 50% more likely to Consider HEB for holiday products and offers, compared to the general population who saw the same AR unit (Facebook Reporting)
Video for Holiday Even Brighter
